By Victoria Dammer
Birdland was the ideal location for Tony Award-nominated lyricist and composer/performer Amanda Green to perform along with some of her finest Broadway friends for a one-evening special production.
Monday night’s guests included Darius De Haas, an accomplished singer, recording artist, and actor, as well as vocalist Natalie Douglas, whose portrait hangs on Birdland’s Wall of Fame. Famed actor and singer Ann Harada performed a duet with Green of a song they wrote together. Green also performed a duet with award-winning composer, songwriter, and musician Curtis Moore. The hilarious, side-splitting comedy of Dan Finnerty, of The Dan Band, was on display and he riled the crowd noise to an all-time high.
Green opened the show with a monologue of suggestive and comical jokes, which brought the crowd’s enthusiasm to a roar, and she followed with a song from her long list of repertoire. She has a pleasant voice and throws in just enough indecent words to keep you laughing. Green told the audience she had written all the lyrics for the songs that were performed during the evening, so her special talents were on display for over an hour by the various guests who shared her words.
Douglas was exceptional with her powerful, masterful voice; she opened her song by saying, “Please pray for me,” and then belted out a song that brought a round of explosive applause at the finish.
Green’s duet with De Haas was powerful.
Who couldn’t laugh at the two salty performances of Finnerty, known by many for his comical part in the movie, “The Wedding Singer.” He had the audience in stitches.
Green and guests were accompanied by musical director Annbritt DuChateau and drummer Sean McDaniel.
The very gracious Green thanked the owners of Birdland for opening the venue after the COVID shutdown, and she also thanked the workers for their service.
Amanda Green is a Tony Award-nominated lyricist and composer. She revised the book and lyrics for the recent revival of Kiss Me, Kate, starring Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase. She is currently writing lyrics for a new musical with Billy Crystal and Jason Robert Brown, and Female Troubles, an original musical comedy conceived by Amanda and composer Curtis Moore.
Green’s Broadway credits include On The Twentieth Century, revival starring Kristin Chenoweth (Additional Lyrics); Bring It On, co-lyricist, with Lin Manuel Miranda, nominated for Tony Award Best Musical, Drama Desk Award, Lyrics; Hands on a Hardbody, lyrics, co-composer; Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and two Drama Desk Award nominations (Music & Lyrics); and High Fidelity (Lyrics) On TV, she provided additional lyrics to “Peter Pan Live!” on NBC. She was the first female winner of the Frederic Loewe Composition Awardbirdland and is also the recipient of the Jonathan Larson Award for Excellence in Songwriting. As a performer, Amanda has appeared in concerts everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Birdland, Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and beyond. She has received two MAC Awards and a Bistro Award.
